When can a team win 12 straight games to end the regular season, share a conference title, and still not be guaranteed a postseason berth?

When it’s the Aztecs women’s volleyball team playing in the Mountain West, which doesn’t have a season-ending tournament.

SDSU wrapped up their first-ever Mountain West title and a 15-0 home season on Tuesday night with a three-set rout of Nevada at Peterson Gym that gave the Aztecs a 23-7 mark overall and a 13-3 record in conference.

But though they are likely to be co-champions of the MW with Colorado State, which plays its final regular-season match on Friday, the Aztecs still will wait nervously on Sunday to hear if they’ve been chosen for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001.

The Aztecs and Rams split their season series, but Colorado State will get the automatic bid out of the MW because it needed fewer sets (four) to beat SDSU than the Aztecs in their win (five).

“I think we realistically have a great shot at getting in,” said Aztecs coach Deitre Collins-Parker. “But we’re definitely a bubble team.”

The Aztecs almost toyed with Nevada on Tuesday, getting 12 kills from junior hitter Raegan Shelton and 34 assists from setter Johnna Fouch in sweeping the sets, 25-13, 25-11, 25-17. Afterwards, they doused each other not with champagne, but colored Silly String.

On Sept. 22 in Reno, the Wolf Pack (4-24) handed SDSU a five-set loss, easily its biggest black mark. The match was the only win in conference for Nevada.

“This felt like revenge,” Shelton said.

Added Collins-Parker: “We are definitely not the same team we were back then.”

The Aztecs have a strong argument to be one of the 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament. They have RPIs of 36 and 40 in separate ratings, and last week they beat 18th-ranked USD in four sets.

A “gigantic” win, judged Collins-Parker, the former U.S. volleyball Olympian who is in her fourth season leading SDSU.

“This team just has a lot of confidence,” she said. “It’s kind of fun when you feel like you’re playing for a goal, playing for a championship. We’re pretty hungry.”

The Aztecs’ lineup was in flux earlier in the season, but they found their groove when Fouch became the established setter. They got consistent offensive contributions from Shelton, senior Andrea Hannasch, junior Emily Harris, and sophomore Michelle Waber, and senior Kristi Jackels was a stalwart at libero all season.

“The seniors who have been with me for four years, they trusted in what we were doing. They believed in what we were doing and that we would get here,” Collins-Parker said. “For them to realize that before we’re done, that’s amazing.”